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Overview: Alonso's 330 lost grid places

15 July 2017 – Fernando Alonso's car has racked up 345 places worth of engine-related grid penalties since he returned to McLaren in 2015, when the team reunited with Honda, GPUpdate.net's analysis shows.

The current McLaren-Honda stint has been plagued by a lack of reliability and performance, with the partnership the hardest hit by the FIA's sanction system.

In 2017, drivers are permitted four versions of the six elements which make up the power unit: Internal Combustion Engine, Turbocharger, MGU-H, MGU-K, Energy Store and Control Electronics.

The first time a fifth version of an element is used, a 10-place penalty is issued, followed by a five-place penalty for any of the other elements being switched out for a fifth time.

The process is repeated for a sixth version, and a seventh version, and so on.

In 2015 and 2016, there was a slightly greater tolerance, with drivers permitted five versions of the six elements, meaning penalties were only applied for a sixth power unit, and so on.

Alonso's British Grand Prix penalty of 30 places, which has consigned him to the back of the grid, has brought his entry's cumulative total since 2015 to 345 positions.

Alonso has taken 330 of these places, while Monaco stand-in Jenson Button – who raced the Spaniard's car while he competed at the Indianapolis 500 – collected 15 positions.

155 places came during Honda's woeful comeback season in 2015, in which Alonso was forced to use 12 power units.

Last year was brighter, with 'only' 105 demotions, split across just two Grands Prix – in Belgium (60 places) and Malaysia (45 places).

This season, Alonso's car is up to 85 positions at the mid-point of the campaign, following Button's Monaco drop, 40 places for Alonso in Azerbaijan, and another 30 in Britain.

This means that if the penalty system was applied on a cumulative basis, and he qualified in first place for each race, it would have taken him 19 Grands Prix to serve each sanctioned position.

Other penalties, for any gearbox changes or driving transgressions, have not been included in GPUpdate.net's summary.

Allied to penalties received by the sister car – either for Button in 2015/16 or Stoffel Vandoorne this season – McLaren-Honda is approaching a combined total of 600 places.

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